The present invention relates to a connector used to connect two members of an electronic apparatus, and to a method of assembling the same. The present invention relates more particularly to a connector having a large number of plug pins or contact pins (hereinafter, generically referred to as "pin terminals"), and to a method of assembling such a connector.
Recently, electronic apparatuses, such as computers have come to have higher concentration of components and, thus, the number of I/O terminals for electronic signals has increased, with a result that the number of pin terminals in a connector has also increased. Since it is required that the dimension of a connector be not larger than a conventional size, the dimension of each individual pin terminal has come to be reduced.
Therefore, mechanical strength of a pin terminal with respect to external force has become smaller than before. Hence, a chance has increased that pin terminals can be bent or broken during a process of assembling a connector, thus reducing a yield of produced connectors.
Accordingly, a connector in which pin terminals are not damaged during an assembly, as well as a method of assembling such a connector, have been desired.
A conventional connector for use in a motherboard is configured such that a plurality of contact pins, having a male pin terminal to be joined to the board, and a female contact part are provided between a movable lock part and a stationary base part. The connector is used in such a manner that the pin terminal to be joined to the board is made to project through the stationary base part so as to be joined to the motherboard, and the contact part mated with in the movable lock part is connected to a pin terminal of a plug. Conventionally, this connector has been assembled in the following manner.
A contact pin is made of a material having good conductivity, such as copper. A pin terminal to be connected to the motherboard is formed on one end of the contact pin, and an elastically deformable part, including a contact part to be engaged with the plug pin terminal, is formed on the other end thereof.
A connector case for holding a plurality of contact pins is made of an insulating material, such has a resin. The connector case comprises: a stationary base part having pin terminal through-holes for allowing the pin terminal to project toward the motherboard; and a movable lock part having contact pin through-holes for holding the contact part and the elastically deformable part so that the contact part is engaged with the plug pin terminal inserted into those parts.
The plurality of contact pins constituting the connector are inserted into the pin terminal through-holes of the stationary base part and are press-fitted by means of a jig before being soldered to the motherboard. The contact part and the elastically deformable part of the plurality of contact pins are inserted into the contact pin through-hole of the movable lock part.
A problem with the above-mentioned conventional connector and with the method of assembling the same is that, since there are needed: a process of inserting the plurality of contact pins into the pin terminal through-holes of the stationary base part; a specially made jig for press-fitting the plurality of contact pins thus inserted; and a process of soldering the contact pins to the motherboard, the cost for producing the contact pins becomes relatively high due to a need to fit the contact pin to the jig and due to the soldering process.
The material forming the contact pin and having good conductivity is often a metal having good workability. It is also to be noted that an individual contact pin constituting the connector has become small due to high concentration of components in recent electronic devices. These factors, i.e. the workability of the material and the reduced size, causes a problem that the contact pin can be bent or broken during the press-fitting process, thus possibly reducing the yield of the produced contact pins.
Still another problem with the conventional art is that, since the contact part of the contact pin is formed to open out so that the plug pin terminal inserted externally can be easily fitted thereinto, it requires effort to insert the contact pin through the contact pin through-hole in a connector assembling process, and the contact part or the contact pin through-hole can be damaged while the contact pin is being inserted.